Talbot Mundy was born on this date, April 23, in 1879. He passed away in 1940. Mundy was one of the premier writers of adventure fiction of the early 20th Century. While not as well-remembered today as Haggard or Kipling, Mundy was prolific and left a substantial body of work that is held in high regard by connoisseurs of adventure tales set in far-off, exotic lands. I’ve read a few of his short stories and liked them, but this is the first longer work of Mundy’s I’ve read. I quite enjoyed.
“For the Salt He Had Eaten” first appeared in the March 1913 issue of Adventure. I read it in The Talbot Mundy Megapack, which you can grab for just ninety-nine cents.
The story is set in India in 1857, at the outbreak of the Sepoy Rebellion. Sepoys were Indian soldiers in the British Army. They revolted in 1857, but the revolt was unsuccessful.
The central character is Mohammed Kahn, an old man with great-grandchildren, is a risaldar, a type of cavalry commander. He’s expecting the rebellion and goes to warn Lieutenant Bellairs, the commander of a remote garrison. Kahn had served Bellairs’s father faithfully for many years. Bellairs has gotten orders to march to a different outpost.
He leaves his young wife Ruth in Kahn’s care for safekeeping. While Bellairs heads into danger, Ruth and Kahn discover they may be in even more danger. The local Hindu priest wants Ruth for himself. He has a scheme to have her appear as his goddess.
Rather detail the events of the story, I’ll just say that the pacing is good, with lots of action, intrigue, and scheming. Ruth isn’t a wilting flower, even if she does faint at one convenient point. She’s given a personality, more so than most damsels in distress were shown having in the pulps.
There’s a lot to like about “For the Salt He Had Eaten”. The setting is intriguing, the villains treacherous, the action well-paced, and the characters were well-developed.
I will definitely be reading more Talbot Mundy. There were several passages where Mundy described the temples and fallen civilizations of India that reminded me of Robert E. Howard.
If you’ve not tried Mundy before, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
I’m looking forward to reading this. I know some people aren’t so taken with Tros, because it’s slow. I’ve not read it. I do want to read “King of the Khyber Rifles” because I distinctly remember watching the movie adaptation on t.v. oh-so-many years ago.
I think you’ll like it. It didn’t seem slow to me. Let me know what you think.
I’ve not read Tros or King, although I have copies of both. More Mundy is in my future.
The title of the Mundy’s book is “King- -of the Khyber Rifles”. The protagonist is Athelstan King.
Thanks for your great website!
You’re welcome
I think you’ll enjoy both Tros and King — of the Khyber Rifles, just be warned that the book is nothing like either of the film versions of “King–“. Mundy was quite the ladies man (cad actually) in his youth and either because of or in spite of that, his female characters all have a life of their own.
I recommend Mundy to anyone who likes adventure and I think you’re right Mr. West in regards to Robert E. Howard. Howard mentions reading a number of Mundy’s novels in one of his letters and there is a passage in one of Mundy’s books that could have come right out of a Solomon Kane story, but written when REH was still a boy.
Thanks for putting a spotlight on a great writer.
You’re welcome. I’ve read the first seven chapters of Tros and am enjoying it.